Topband: Efficiency

[Lee K7TJR]

      I just spent a few fruitless moments trying to work an OZ1 that couldn't hear me at 1500 Watts. I thought of Lew W7EW. While the expenditure of effort on receiving antennas is generally well spent, sometimes it does not help. We just keep pushing the envelope for all of our stations. It is what we do. We get better receiving, we need better transmitting. We get better transmitting, we need better receiving. It is the mystique of Top-Band. 
    I have built some fantastic receiving antennas. I have not come close to being able to work everything I am able to hear. I have built a great transmitting antenna. I am not able to hear everything I am able to send a signal to. Its the mystique of top-band. 
   So what is the bottom line? I wish I could give tribute to whomever said it but "get you current maximums up in the air" for transmit. And from me, get your receiving angles down on the ground. I, just a few minutes ago worked XR0Y for #164. Not a big deal to many but this is Oregon! I transmitted to them with a top-loaded vertical that gets the current up in the air, and I heard them on a small RX array using 3 vertical elements (6 directions) that has a maximum gain/RDF at 20 degrees elevation, down on the ground. It seemed easy.
    It was almost 40 years ago when an engineer said to me "plagiarize, plagiarize, let nothing done escape your eyes". I say for all, take advantage of every bit of information you can to upgrade your stations. Study it all. Get your TX current maximums up in the air if you can and get the RX angles down on the ground. 
    For me, Top loading TX antennas and small vertical arrays for RX are the Cats meow! YMMV
Lee   K7TJR  OR